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Yes, I know I’m very late on this, but it was brought to my attention a few short minutes ago. This year, the annual Seiyuu Awards has an overseas category for the first time. Everyone should go voice their opinion! I voted for Megumi Nakajima, since she deserves it for her unforgettable performance as Ranka. Second choices were Mai Nakahara or Kaori Mizuhashi. Nana Mizuki was tempting, but I decided to vote for other reasons…
I was tempted to pick some ridiculous choice like Miyu Matsuki (or Tomoko Kaneda) for comedy value, though I don’t have the coordination to pull it off.
Don’t miss out on this chance. Western fans rarely get an opportunity to influence a decently legitimate Japanese awards establishment like this.
Oh, Japan. Sometimes, I wonder.
Looks like our East Asian neighbors have concocted their first efforts to fuel the Barack Obama (otaku?) craze with Dragon in Dream’s 1/6 Barack Obama Collectible Action Figure, up for pre-order at Hobby Stock for 8980 yen (just under $95 USD). It seems the company behind this based in Hong Kong and English-speaking, so maybe a stateside release is on the map?
Too bad he looks too buff with those broad shoulders, though I’d consider getting this out of sheer novelty…
Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is Joss Whedon’s, of Buffy and Firefly fame, latest pet project. It’s a superhero romance-comedy musical in three 13-15 minute acts, streaming online at their site until July 20th or purchasable at $4 for the entire “season” on the dreaded iTunes. An extras-filled DVD will be coming in the next few months. It’s particularly notable that this is completely an internet effort, from the viewing to the promotion, that Whedon worked on during the writer’s strike.
Dr. Horrible stars Neil Patrick Harris as the title character, Billy (alias Dr. Horrible), a mad scientist living a double life, while pining for his dream girl’s (Felicia Day) attention and attempting to join the Evil League of Evil, the obligatory anti-Justice League of this bizarro universe. In Dr. Horrible, superheroes and supervillains are normal part of society. Our protagonist has a nemesis in the form of the faux-heroic Captain Hammer, played by Nathan Fillion. Hammer is everything Dr. Horrible is not, from his strength to his popularity to his success.
At first, I was happy to finally see Nathan Fillion in an effort that could be successful, but the real star of the show is Neil Patrick Harris. Not only is he a very capable singer, yet he plays the role of our title character with an endearing dorky charm. Nathan Fillion plays Captain Hammer’s arrogance and crudeness to the boot in very amusing fashion with lines such as, “The hammer is my penis”. Felicia Day fits the role and shows that she’s been sorely underused on network television.
The songs have the typical Joss Whedon wittiness to them, though not to the extent of Firefly’s quips, so it works not to overpower the show. Not that Firefly was hurt by its dialogue; the exact opposite happens to be true, but it wouldn’t have worked as well here. It’s quite entertaining seeing a nerdy premise crossed with musical cliches. The characters even break out into song at the correct moments!
I’ll highly recommend Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog to everyone on our fine internets. Go watch it as soon as possible. If you love this as much as I do, support efforts like this, by buying the episodes (if you use iTunes), and/or purchasing the DVD in a few months.
